10 Essential Strategies For Surviving Bad Nonprofit Bosses

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A good boss at any point in your career — especially during the early stages — is worth their weight in gold and can be a magnificent source of wisdom and inspiration. They can help build your self-esteem, boost your work output, and help you find satisfaction and prospects for the future. But let’s face reality: The odds are that during your career you’re going to have to cope with a supervisor that is something less — sometimes profoundly less — than a constructive presence in your career.
Everyone is human, blessed with both strengths and weaknesses. In our respective workplaces that can translate to the best of times or the worst of times. Bad nonprofit bosses come in many different forms and are a result of personality, background, and character flaws. Like the rest of you, I have worked for men and women that changed the course of my career for the better, and others who were a nuisance and put up roadblocks to my potential to be productive and effective in a variety of fundraising and advancement roles.
Here are ten lessons in surviving and moving forward when reporting to a leader who clearly lacks leadership skills and leaves co-workers wondering what they are doing in such positions of authority in the first place. Each point captures a different scenario and corresponds with the list of coping strategies.
Bad bosses can be found in every type of workplace, spanning for-profits and nonprofits alike. The trouble in the nonprofit sector is that typically the level of job satisfaction and passion for the organization runs especially high. It is amazing what small, dedicated, and unified teams can accomplish in championing noble missions that touch, improve, and save more lives. Bad bosses put all that potential at risk. Fortunately, in the nonprofit sector, they are more the exception than the rule.
How do you handle bad nonprofit bosses? Let us know in the comments.
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